Yet another court order reserved: Arvind Kejriwal’s bail paused for now
The Delhi High Court today halted Arvind Kejriwal's anticipated release on bail. The court said till it heard the probe agency's petition, which could take another 2-3 days, Mr Kejriwal would remain in jail.
The Delhi High Court today halted Arvind Kejriwal's anticipated release on bail after an urgent petition filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) just hours before the Delhi Chief Minister was set to leave Tihar jail. The court said till it heard the probe agency's petition, which could take another 2-3 days, Mr Kejriwal would remain in jail.
The high court also issued notice to Mr Kejriwal, seeking his response on ED's plea challenging the trial court's June 20 order by which he was granted bail.
"I am reserving the order for two to three days. Till pronouncement of the order, the operation of the trial court order is stayed," Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain said. The single-judge bench passed the order after the ED moved the High Court challenging Thursday's trial court order.
During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the ED, said the trial court's order was completely "perverse" as it was contrary to the mandate of Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The ASG also said that he was not adequately heard by the trial court.
Countering the ED, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi said "not one paisa" was traced to Arvind Kejriwal. Calling the ED's approach "deplorable", Singhvi stated that an accused cannot be kept indefinitely in jail merely for the probe agency to find evidence. "Like Alice in Wonderland, ED has its own meaning of perversity. For them, it means error is perversity and unless every argument of ED is repeated verbatim, it is perversity."
Senior advocate Vikram Chaudhary, representing the Delhi Chief Minister, also countered ASG Raju, saying ED's stand is my way or the highway. He said the trial court's order had considered all aspects raised by the ED.
It is interesting to note that since Kejriwal was arrested by ED, at least seven cases filed from his side in different courts. But almost in all cases, lower courts to the High Court delivered their verdicts after resereving them for few days.
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